There is little recent news of the military conflict in Sudan since several days of Rapid Support Forces drone strikes on Port Sudan in late May, which temporarily shut down facilities relating to oil exports for South Sudan. In South Sudan, President Salva Kiir replaced Vice-President James Wani Igga as 1st Deputy Chairman and Secretary-General of the SPLM party with new Vice-President Benjamin Bol Mel. Bol Mel is viewed as a possible successor.
Five were killed when a UN food aid convoy was attacked en route to North Darfur. At the end of May Gen. Burhan appointed Kamil al-Taib, a former Director-General of the World Intellectual Organization, as civilian prime minister, the first since Abdalla Hamdok’s resignation in 2023. Hamdok justifiably dismissed the appointment as “fake news.”
Bol Mel, 47, is a businessman and financial advisor to Kiir. Two of his companies have been sanctioned by the US for corruption. South Sudanese military forces have been barrel-bombing communities in Upper Nile thought to be loyal to detained Vice President Riek Machar. Thousands have fled to Ethiopia. A cholera outbreak and continued inflation are further immiserating the population.
Despite continued crippling sanctions on bank transfers, AFRECS was recently successful in moving funds reliably to the Episcopal Church of Sudan to support food distribution by its churches, to include both Christian and Muslim populations. AFRECS funding to the Episcopal Church of South Sudan supports a highly successful literacy, livelihood creation and trauma healing program, as well as girls’ education and the Episcopal University.
Given the dire situation in both countries, the work of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and the Episcopal Church of South Sudan remains vital and life-giving.
USAID has been eliminated and funding to both Sudans terminated. So PLEASE CONSIDER a generous gift to AFRECS to support these vital churches!